Repay

YOUR NEWSPAPER ran an ''Other News to Note'' item about a decision by the Federal Election Commission ordering political activist Jesse Jackson to repay the government $122,031 in taxpayer subsidies to his unsuccessful 1988 presidential campaign.Taxpayers applaud this finding and the rejection of arguments that Jackson should be given ''special consideration'' because of his ''people-intensive'' campaign style. What, pray tell, is a ''people-intensive'' campaign style, and why should it even be considered being worth $122,031?

Andy MacCracken's family faced a sobering but clear choice. After his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, the money his parents had spent years saving to send him to college would go to save her life. Fortunately, Andy's mother is cancer-free today, and Andy graduated from school after serving as student body president. But this experience came with a price. With his family's college savings going toward paying for his mother's life-saving treatment, Andy finished school with nearly $30,000 in student loan debt.

A new report says a Florida's Department of Juvenile Justice secretary should reimburse taxpayers for $25,000 in questionable travel expenses. Secretary Frank Peterman's frequent flights between Tallahassee and Tampa were not adequately documented, according to a critical report from Gov. Charlie Crist's chief inspector general, Melinda Miguel, according to the St. Peterburg Times. "We recommend corrective action be taken including, but not limited to, obtaining reimbursement to the state for travel not fully and completely justified as official state business," the report says.

Workforce Central Florida has reached an agreement with state and federal officials to repay almost $740,000 that auditors determined was spent inappropriately to settle a lawsuit over a lease deal that went bad. The region's federally funded job development agency will repay the U.S. Department of Labor $237,000 using money it saved by reducing administrative costs. The state will contribute another $502,000 to cover the remainder of the money owed. Officials with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity did not respond to questions Thursday about where its share would come from.

The bankruptcy case of Tousa Inc. could force hundreds of construction-related contractors, including some in Central Florida, to repay money they earned more than two years ago from the South Florida-based homebuilder and subsidiaries such as Engle Homes. For instance, a longtime Orlando development-landscaping business, Concepts in Greenery LLC, is among more than 1,000 Florida companies that did business with Tousa and its affiliates in the 90 days leading up to Tousa's January 2008 bankruptcy filing.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Although Puerto Rican Education Secretary Victor Fajardo continued to defend his use of more than $220,000 of taxpayers' money to pay for a private security service to guard his family and his home, the island's comptroller last week insisted that $87,501 in state funds should be repaid to the treasury. Federal education officials launched a probe into whether Fajardo should repay $135,133 in federal funds he also spent on the service.

Daytona Beach -- A former caregiver for the elderly was sentenced Wednesday to 17 years in prison and must repay more than $400,000 to the family of a woman who had been neglected and swindled out of her money. Sandra Cooper, 57, also must transfer ownership of a $290,000 Port Orange house that had been bought with money from the woman and must give back about $34,000 in confiscated cash, prosecutors said Wednesday. A Volusia jury in February found Cooper guilty of neglecting and exploiting 73-year-old Bertha Fox, a disabled woman who died in 2005 after being severely malnourished, suffering several injuries from falling and suffering bedsores.

As a taxpayer with an outstanding $4,500 signature loan to AIG, I'd like to know why I should pay back my debt. Given the bailout and reports of lavish and extravagant executive hotel conferences on top of executives' salaries, far more than I'd ever hope to get paid, why? I feel as though I've probably paid them back three or four times over in tax dollars. Why should I make it five or six times by paying off my debt? Fortunately, I'm not behind on my mortgage, but the company that holds it already received a $25 billion bailout, too. It's like having to make two mortgage payments a month -- one to the mortgage-holder and the other to the Internal Revenue Service.

DAYTONA BEACH -- The former assistant director of the Rape Crisis Center pleaded no contest Friday to a charge that she stole $5,830 from the nonprofit center. As part of her plea bargain, Michelle Patricia Jones, 33, must repay the stolen funds and must testify in the upcoming trial of her former boss and former center director Franklin Nooe. Nooe, who is accused of taking more than $118,877 from the center, could be tried in February. The Rape Crisis Center is a nonprofit organization that provides care and counseling for rape victims in Volusia and Flagler counties as well as education about sexual violence to the community.

An arbitration ruling that ordered Ricky Williams to repay the Miami Dolphins $8.6 million was upheld Tuesday by a federal judge, who rejected arguments that the award disregarded Florida law and was excessive. U.S. District Judge James Cohn ruled arbitrator Richard Bloch was "well within the scope of his authority" in his interpretation of the case. Bloch ruled in September that Williams breached his contract by abruptly retiring. Under the terms of that contract, the 2002 NFL rushing champion was required to repay the Dolphins $8.6 million in bonus money he had received, Bloch said.

As a whistleblower lawsuit against Florida Hospital continues its way through federal court here, the nonprofit hospital system repaid nearly $3 million it received from overbilling the government, said the whistleblowers' attorney, Marlan Wilbanks. "This further proves the credibility of our case," said Wilbanks, who represents whistleblowers Amanda Dittman, a bill-coding and reimbursement-compliance officer, and Dr. Charlotte Elenberger, a radiologist. Both are former Florida Hospital workers.

Florida's unemployment trust fund , drained when the state's labor market collapsed, should be back in the black by the middle of 2013, according to state officials. The state's outstanding loan balance to the federal government was about $544 million at the end of November, and economic analysts project Florida will pay that off and no longer have a need to borrow by May. The falling costs of the system, which provides unemployment payments of up to $275 a week to laid-off workers, coincide with a decline in the tax paid by employers into the unemployment trust fund.

A longtime deputy state environmental commissioner was allowed to retire in 2006 at age 50 with an $85,000-a-year lifetime "disability pension" because of a degenerative spinal condition — but now he's been told to give back $411,688 in pension payments, after a ruling that he wasn't sufficiently disabled in the first place. David K. Leff, now 57, of Canton, is fighting the Feb. 15 decision of the state Medical Examining Board, which conducted a hearing on his case last Dec. 9. Leff says that his disability causes him constant pain and that the board is ignoring medical evidence submitted by his doctor of 21 years.

A Washington County Circuit Court judge has signed an order that requires Hagerstown Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II to pay more than $80,000 owed to a local businessman, property owner and landlord. The debt is from a 2008 loan on which Bruchey and the former owner of Hagerstown Motors defaulted. In the order signed Aug. 14, Circuit Judge John H. McDowell ordered the mayor to pay $80,714.05 to Biltrite Homes Corp., a local real estate investment firm owned by Vincent R. Groh.

The owner of a downstate dog training facility has agreed to refund thousands of dollars to families who were promised autism service dogs for their children but never received them, according to a consent judgment expected to be filed Thursday. The proposed agreement provides some consolation to four families across the country who nearly a year and a half ago started sending trainer Lea Kaydus their own money and community donations for dogs trained to ameliorate symptoms of children with autism.

Nearly a year after a federal judge ruled that two lawyers did such a bad job of representing their client that they should repay more than $275,000 in fees, one of them turned over the keys to his Miramar home and his 2001 BMW as partial payment. Peter Mayas, of Miramar and Plantation, and disbarred former lawyer Emmanuel Roy, of Brooklyn , N.Y., have already been found in contempt of court. The two could end up being jailed if the judge finds they tried to hide their assets to avoid paying, as alleged in court by the attorney helping their former client get his money back.

Officials of a municipal agency that loaned Northwest Airlines $315 million are pushing the troubled carrier to repay the taxpayer-backed debt on time, even if the airline declares bankruptcy. Northwest is scheduled to make quarterly payments of $6 million to the Metropolitan Airports Commission, landlord of the Twin Cities airport. The next payment is due in August. The $315 million originally was part of a loan package to Northwest in return for building an aircraft repair facility in northern Minnesota.

U.S. Rep. Harold Ford says he had no obligation to repay a $350,000 loan from a Tennessee banker. The Memphis Democrat testified Thursday at his federal trial that he thought the money was an investment in his family's funeral home. He said he did not know for nearly a year that the money was a loan from Southern Industrial Banking Corp., owned by C.H. Butcher Jr. The $350,000 loan from Southern Industrial went to Tenn-Ford Inc., which used the money to pay off $230,000 in Ford loans and nearly $120,000 on mortgages on Ford's homes in Memphis and Washington.

KISSIMMEE – Osceola County Clerk of Court Malcom Thompson wrote a personal check today to cover $785 in public funds spent for fancy business cards, records show. The purchase in the wake of $480,000 cut this year from his agency's budget drew criticism last week when the Sentinel first reported the cost. Thompson promised to pay for the cards if the public considered the cost excessive. With a primary election looming next week, Republican and Democratic candidates faulted the first-term Democrat's gold-embossed cards as frivolous.